I've been approached many times with questions about switching pets to vegan diets (by vegans and non-vegans alike). As you may or may not know, I have one dog and two cats (all are vegan).

Anyway, I finally decided to write an article from my personal experience which I hope people will find useful. It's pretty long, so I'm hesitant to paste the entire post here. So, if you're interested in reading it, I've posted it on my blog here: http://vegtalk.blogspot.com/2008/02/veganizing-your-pets.html.

Please feel free to reply to this thread or on my blog with any questions you may have. I'm more than happy to help. Let's cut our ties with the animal industries completely!

Murder is a family value in almost every home. Murder is a family value three times a day. - Remembering Never

GoldenRatio wrote:I dont think this is very ethically responsible... Chosing to be vegan your self is one thing but imposing that on an animal is another.I have a dachshund myself. To each his own...

Certain animals thrive on vegan diets, and I've witnessed it first hand. A well maintained vegan dog reaps the same benefits as humans. I believe he "saved" his pets, and is giving them a wonderful life. How can you possibly believe spreading something so wonderful is wrong, forcefully or not? Its not like its communism, or religion, etc.. Veganism, combined with right training, and support is the ONLY way to have a completely pure mind, humans and animals. With a cluttered/sludged mind we make stupid decisions in life, and that applies to dogs too. I guarantee vegan dogs get in less fights and are less routy than meat eating dogs. To each his own, when it only affects themselves, but when it can affect the world it doesnt apply.

this is an interesting topic with no right answer only what is right for you.

I personally feel i should not take the option from my cats. They eat a meat centric diet and i feel i should not change that, although they like my vegan food more than there own which is weird, but to each their own. My friend recently said "well what about the industry that produces the food"? His argument was because i am buying animal grade food i am allowing the industry of cruelty to exist. I have to agree with this statement, but i feel i have little choice other than buying them organic cat food from companies with good practices. He made the argument that if i was alright with that then why wouldn't i make the food myself from meat from local farms so i can ensure the quality and humane treatment of the meat.

This threw me for a loop actually because in essence i am okay with buying my pets food as long as i will never have to see the animal slaughtered. Which seems inherently wrong to me. I am at a moral crossroads and i have been thinking about this as of late.

thanks for the post.

The one thing i will contest is that moist food is best for your pets. A 75 percent mixture is a good start with the emphasis on hard dry food because the soft food can weaken the cats teeth while the harder food acts as a natural scrubbing agent, at least this is true for cats.

GoldenRatio wrote:I dont think this is very ethically responsible... Chosing to be vegan your self is one thing but imposing that on an animal is another.I have a dachshund myself. To each his own...

WHAT?? this statement is so out of bounds. you are imposing a meat diet on your dog as much as he is imposing a vegan one on his.if anyone you are in lack of ethical responsibility.

Dogs are just domesticated wolves (oversimplification but you get the point), Wolves thrive on hunting other animals for MEAT. Now if certain industry practices dont let you sleep at night, change to an organic or freerange dog/cat food company, whatever suits you. BUT where do you draw the line, are you gonna veganize lions, tigers and bears(ohh my)? Dont mess with natural processes. Veganizing a dog or cat is just as bad as their domestication thousands of years ago, Its not natural.

Then again because of their domestication maybe its not such a necessity b/c of their much less active and less demanding lives.

either way the human interference with natural processes is not necessarly correct even when backed by the best intentions

btw you need to elaborate on this statement b/c it doesnt make too much sense

you are imposing a meat diet on your dog as much as he is imposing a vegan one on his.

dude come on. we (humans) started messing with the dogs and cats natural process a long long time ago, dogs are not "natural" anymore.
and don't compare pets with wild animals, that just makes you look stupid and slow, and you know it.
organic schmorganic, i am an animal rights advocate, not animal welfare. it's not okay to kill an animal just because it has lived a decent life

cubby2112 wrote:When someone says you don't train "functionally," you should just punch them in the face. Ask them how "functional" of a movement that was.

xjohanx wrote:dude come on. we (humans) started messing with the dogs and cats natural process a long long time ago, dogs are not "natural" anymore.and don't compare pets with wild animals, that just makes you look stupid and slow, and you know it.organic schmorganic, i am an animal rights advocate, not animal welfare. it's not okay to kill an animal just because it has lived a decent life

Whoa asshole slow down, I respect your opinions and everyone elses (much less than what I can say about you) but dont even attempt to attack my intelligence b/c you yourself will come across as such, an IGNORANT ASSHOLE.

Now if you took the time to calmly read my post you would have seen that

Then again because of their domestication maybe its not such a necessity b/c of their much less active and less demanding lives.

dogs are not "natural" anymore.

Now thats stupid...
Dogs still have almost all of their of their animalistic instincts. Dogs still kill when given the chance, any deviation from that has to be taught, and even then when given the chance they still will try to get away with doing it.

im not the ignorant person here, you are. you are feeding your dog DEAD ANIMALS! does that mean nothing to you?

Dogs still have almost all of their of their animalistic instincts. Dogs still kill when given the chance, any deviation from that has to be taught, and even then when given the chance they still will try to get away with doing it.

yeah i know they have a lot of hunting instincts left. so sure. let your dog hunt for it self and see if he/she survives, i bet my money on no.

and for the record, i didn't attack your intelligence. i just wrote that if you stated stuff like that it would MAKE you look stupid. so don't call me an asshole you fuckin tard and suck my balls.

cubby2112 wrote:When someone says you don't train "functionally," you should just punch them in the face. Ask them how "functional" of a movement that was.

xjohanx wrote:im not the ignorant person here, you are. you are feeding your dog DEAD ANIMALS! does that mean nothing to you?

Dogs still have almost all of their of their animalistic instincts. Dogs still kill when given the chance, any deviation from that has to be taught, and even then when given the chance they still will try to get away with doing it.

yeah i know they have a lot of hunting instincts left. so sure. let your dog hunt for it self and see if he/she survives, i bet my money on no.

and for the record, i didn't attack your intelligence. i just wrote that if you stated stuff like that it would MAKE you look stupid. so don't call me an asshole you fuckin tard and suck my balls.

by the associative property, if you say that i saw stuff that makes me look stupid, then you are inherently calling me stupid, STUPID

you are getting emotional man, I will not suck your balls and the use of the word tard/retard can be very offensive to some people.

this is a subject that is all about personal beliefs, thats it. because of that there is alot of ambiguity in what seems right and wrong. You get fired up very easily and have very little respect for others opinions. You will never win an argument that way, much less ever persuade someone of anything (whether right or wrong).

btw, not respecting someones opinions on a public FORUM does make you an ASSHOLE

Last edited by GoldenRatio on Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

offensive or not you are acting like one. asshole can also be offensive and it's disrespectful.
and i never said i didn't respect your opinion.
but you know, buying dead animals and feeding it to your dog makes you an asshole too. so i guess we are both assholes.

cubby2112 wrote:When someone says you don't train "functionally," you should just punch them in the face. Ask them how "functional" of a movement that was.